Address
To The People Of Prague,
"Obecni Dum--A Moment Of Celebration And Of Dedication"by Madeleine Albright
U.S. Secretary of State

Prague, Czech
Republic: July 14, 1997

President
Havel, Prime Minister Klaus, Mayor Koukal, Senators and Parliamentarians,
Excellencies, distinguished guests, thank you so much for your warm and
unforgettable welcome. Let me begin by expressing my sadness at the devastation
that has been caused by the flooding over the last week. Our thoughts
and prayers today are with those who have lost their loved ones and their
homes. I know that there are many mayors here from regions affected by
the flood. The solidarity and dedication that you and the Czech people
have shown in this tragedy is inspiring.

This week, as
I traveled from Madrid to central Europe, I could not help but think about
the three journeys that have framed my life, and my life's work:

I have been thinking
about the memories and the meaning of my own family's journey through
the war and the turbulence of post-war Europe to the freedom and security
of the United States.

I have been thinking
as well about Europe's journey from total war to absolute division to
the promise of enduring unity and peace.

And of course,
I have been thinking about the journey of the Czech nation from the day
in 1918 when its independence was proclaimed on this very spot, to the
day in 1948 when its liberty was extinguished, to this day, when you take
your rightful place in the family of European democracies -- fully, finally
and forever.

T.S. Eliot wrote:

We shall
not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to
arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.

Today, you know
me in a new way, in my new role. And I see you in a new way as well --
not only as the friend of the United States, but also as our next ally.
Truth does conquer, after all. President Havel, Truth and love conquer,
after all.

I have been here
many times since the Velvet Revolution. And I am filled with pride every
time I hear the playing of my country's national anthem, "The Star Spangled
Banner," and yours, "Where is My Home." But nothing compares to the feeling
of coming to my original home, Prague, as the Secretary of State of the
United States, for the purpose of saying to you: Welcome home.

For with the
news from Madrid this week, you are coming home in fact to the community
of freedom that you never left in spirit.

From Munich to
Madrid, from tragedy to triumph, it has been a long and painful journey.
But you have arrived at your destination.

You have arrived
at a moment of injustice undone, of promises kept, of a unified Europe
begun. Now, a new journey begins; and at last, we can travel it together.

We stand at one
of those great turning points in history. For the third time in this century,
the politics of Europe are changing fundamentally. And this time, we pray,
for good.

Almost 80 years
ago, our parents and grandparents were full of the hope that Woodrow Wilson's
dream of universal democracy inspired across the lands of central and
eastern Europe. That dream was shattered by the illusion that the people
of Paris and London and New York could simply go on with their lives while
the people of Vilnius and Krakow and Prague were robbed of their independence,
sent away in box cars, and machine-gunned in forests.

After World War
II, it was Stalin's armies that shattered our dream. And for the next
50 years, one half of Europe was consigned to subjugation, the other half
to fear. We were separated by concrete and barbed wire, by radio jammers
and minefields, by lies that might seem ridiculous today had they not
ruined so many lives.

The amazing thing
is that all those years of propaganda, terror, and isolation utterly failed
to flatten Europe's moral landscape. The communist authorities kept from
you the truth, and still you spoke the truth. They fed you a vacuous culture
and still you gave us works of art that fill our lives with intelligence,
humor and warmth. They tried to smother your allegiances, your faith and
your initiative, and still you taught the world the meaning of solidarity
and civil society.

They banished
your finest leaders, and still you gave us Vaclav Havel.

This is what
we must remember as the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO.
As President Clinton has said, we are not just new allies. In the ways
that truly matter, we are old allies. We are and always have been part
of the same community.

NATO membership
will bring many benefits to the Czech Republic and to others who join
today and in the future -- as will our broader strategy of integration.
Above all, it means you will always be able to rely on us and we will
always be able to rely on you. If there is a threat to the peace and security
of this country, we will be bound by a solemn commitment to defeat it
together. For this reason, we can be confident such a threat is far less
likely to arise.

It means security
in Europe will not stop at its Cold War dividing lines. It means Europe's
new democracies will not be consigned to a buffer zone of excluded states.
It means you will be the authors of your history, the masters of your
destiny, the vassals and victims of no one.

But, my friends,
this is more than a moment of celebration. For NATO's old and new allies
alike, it is also a moment of challenge.

Our most immediate
challenge is to ensure together that the people and parliaments of NATO's
16 member nations embrace the enlargement of our alliance. In America,
the debate will be vigorous. Because we take our commitments seriously,
we do not extend them lightly.

I believe that
our Senate will approve this initiative, but the burden of proof will
still rest with those of us who believe that NATO enlargement serves American
interests. The Senators will ask us many appropriate questions about risks
and costs. They will remind you, as do I, that with a first class ticket
to NATO comes the obligation to make a first class contribution.

Regrettably,
you will also hear echoes of Munich in this debate. Already, people have
trotted out the tired myth that in times of crisis we will make no sacrifice
to defend a distant city with an unpronounceable name; that we will protect
the freedom of Barcelona but not Brno, Stuttgart but not Szczecin.

I challenge those
critics: come meet your future allies. Speak with their people. Their
names may sound unfamiliar, but they speak the same language of freedom.
Visit the veterans in this region who fought for the allied cause in World
War II. Talk to the veterans of the dissident movements. They have spent
a lifetime sacrificing for the ideals we have in common. Look them in
the eye. Ask them why we should be allied with Europe's old democracies
forever, but its new democracies never.

You might listen
to President Havel, as well. "If we appeal to the West not to close itself
off to us," he has said, "this is not only because we are concerned about
our own security and stability. We are concerned about the destiny of
the values and principles that communism denied, and in whose name we
resisted communism and ultimately brought it down."

Defending values,
righting history's wrongs -- these are idealistic arguments. Oddly, some
are troubled by that. They want NATO to retain its military muscle, but
they are suspicious of enlargement because it also appeals to our hearts.
Others, who champion freedom in central Europe and Russia, are suspicious
of enlargement precisely because NATO is an organization with tanks and
bombers. But there is no contradiction here between realism and idealism,
between pragmatism and principle, between security and justice.

Those of us who
knew Prague before the Cold War know that freedom without security is
a frail reed. And those in America who most ardently prosecuted the Cold
War should be the first to admit that it was not merely a military enterprise,
but an idealistic one as well.

You know that
NATO enlargement fulfills a moral and strategic challenge. By turning
a Europe of shared values into a Europe of shared responsibilities, you
know we can do both.

Because we are
old friends, let me speak plainly. NATO is welcoming new members because
we know you are ready to make an even deeper commitment to the common
endeavors of our alliance of democracies -- from the pursuit of peace
in troubled regions, to the fight against terror and crime, to our support
for those who still struggle for the freedom you enjoy.

For example,
the SFOR mission in Bosnia will come to an end in one year. But the United
States has made a long-term commitment to support peace in that country
and given what you have already done in Bosnia, I trust you will, too.
I trust you will also be leaders in the effort to keep deadly weapons
from dangerous rogue states, even if it means losing a sale from time
to time. And I trust you will pay the costs and do what is necessary to
assure the full integration of the Czech armed forces into NATO.

It is your willingness
to assume great responsibilities that has brought you to this point. You
are about to join NATO. You are already a member of the OECD. No doubt,
you will join the EU as well. Our memory of the last 50 years makes it
hard to believe, but as you enter these institutions, you will stand among
the most prosperous and powerful nations in the world.

You are no longer
on the outside looking in; you are on the inside looking forward.

For 50 years,
you looked to the free world for support, understanding, and recognition.
Now you are the free world; other nations will look to you for support.

Part of our new
responsibility to others is to ensure that the door to NATO remains open
to all European democracies that are willing and able to meet the obligations
of membership.

That is the policy
NATO adopted in Madrid. We count on you to support that policy in word
and deed. It is also a personal commitment President Clinton has made
to all the nations that lie between the Baltic and Black Seas. And it
is our message today to the people of Slovakia. For it is our sincere
hope that their nation will rejoin the path of true democratic reform
and make itself a strong candidate for the second round of NATO enlargement.

To all the nations
that still aspire to join NATO, I say: consider why we have invited the
Czech Republic. It is not because the Czechs are somehow more "European"
than the Orthodox and Muslim peoples to the south and east; we have no
patience for that kind of thinking. It is not because Prague is west of
Vienna. It is not just because of your pre-war democratic tradition.

Rather, the Czech
Republic's invitation to NATO was inscribed by its deeds over the past
seven years. Others will soon be ready to follow your lead, and you must
join us in helping them.

You know that
the effort to join NATO is not a race to escape a bad neighborhood. It
is an effort to improve the neighborhood for the benefit of all.

This is why I
appreciate the Czech Republic's support for the NATO-Russia Founding Act
and your recognition that a democratic Russia must be part of a Europe
whole and free. As President Havel has said, "in this era, we -- as nations
-- cannot divide ourselves according to who were the victors and who the
vanquished in the past."

After my trip
to Europe this week, I am more confident than ever that together, we can
meet his challenge and more. In Madrid, I saw NATO's strength as its leaders
made a decision that was difficult but right. With President Clinton in
Warsaw, I saw that our new allies are not just ready but eager to add
their energy to ours. In Bucharest, I watched the President address 100,000
people at University Square -- and even though their country will not
be among the first group of new allies, they showed us that they support
NATO's enlargement and that they will do what it takes to be part of a
new Europe. I heard the same message in Ljubljana and in Vilnius. And
in St. Petersburg, I saw a Russia that is moving ahead with reform and
moving closer to the rest of Europe.

Today, I can
foresee a Europe where every nation is free and every free nation is our
partner. Not long ago, that was a future we might have imagined, but in
the darkest moments perhaps thought would never come. And that brings
me back to the earlier part of my remarks -- and of my life.

Fifty years ago,
Jan Masaryk was told by Stalin in Moscow that Czechoslovakia must not
participate in the Marshall Plan despite its national interest in doing
so. Upon his return to Prague, Masaryk told my father, his chef de cabinet,
that it was then he understood that he was employed by a government no
longer sovereign in its own land.

Soon after, the
communists took over in Prague. That coup drove my parents and me from
this country for the second time. And more than any other single event,
that coup awakened America and western Europe to the need for an Atlantic
Alliance. Thus, the event that cast my family out of Prague, and you into
darkness, also helped to create the Alliance that has brought me back
again, and put you in the center of a new Europe.

Today, there
is no Stalin to give orders to you or to anyone. The opportunity to be
part of the international system is open to all. The goal of integration
is not bound by strategic realities or confined by cultural arrogance
to western Europe, to central Europe or even to Europe.

Today, the west
has no fixed eastern frontiers. Every democratic nation that seeks to
participate in the global system we are constructing and that is willing
to do all it can to help itself will have America's help in finding the
right path. Now they will have your help and your example as well.

People of Prague,
people of the Czech Republic: Half a century ago, our journeys diverged.
But this week's events have brought our paths together again. Now thanks
to the vision of my President, Bill Clinton, and the courage of your people,
we are reunited in a common cause. Soon we will be joined in a common
alliance. And we will never be parted again.

You were the passion of my parents. You are the land of my birth. And
now you and I, my nation and yours, will build and defend a new Europe
together. God bless you.

Sources: Speech can
also be found at <http://secretary.state.gov/www/statements/970714.html>.
More speeches by Madeleine Albright may be found at <http://secretary.state.gov/index.html>.

Copyright information: Gifts of Speech believes that for copyright purposes, this speech is in the public domain since it was made by a U.S. government official. Any use of this speech, however, should show proper attribution to its author.